Pact Reached In Collapse Of Building

By SAM HOWE VERHOVEK

Published: November 16, 1988

Less than two years after a high-rise construction project collapsed in Bridgeport, Conn., killing 28 workers, a $41 million settlement of all legal claims from the disaster has been achieved through mediation.

The settlement, fashioned by two mediators through informal conferences among nearly 100 lawyers representing the victims' families and 40 contractors and subcontractors, eliminated years of potential litigation, said Judge Robert C. Zampano of Federal District Court, a mediator. The second judge on the mediation panel was Frank S. Meadow of Connecticut Superior Court.

Every possible plaintiff or defendant -including one slightly injured worker who had never planned to sue - was consulted for the mediation, and the settlement resolves both the payments due to those who suffered from the tragedy and the dozens of lawsuits that were expected among the companies involved in the construction of L'Ambiance Plaza, the 13-story apartment building that collapsed on April 23, 1987. Sixteen other workers were injured in the collapse. 'A Remarkable Breakthrough'

Several legal experts said yesterday that the process had been closely watched as an example of how to speed the complex litigation that often follows such disasters, delaying settlements for up to a decade.

''This is a remarkable breakthrough in the use of mediation,'' said George H. Friedman, an official with the American Arbitration Association in New York, which advocates alternatives to civil litigation. ''Considering the number and magnitude of claims here, it's amazing that they got all the players to sit down together at the table.''

''It was a question of getting the parties committed to trying this kind of alternative, and Judge Zampano was particularly effective at getting people to trust the process,'' said Margaret Shaw, the director of the Institute of Judicial Administration at the New York University School of Law.

The amount involved is one of the largest on record for a settlement by mediation, although several disasters - including air crashes, fires, and the collapse of a skywalk at the Kansas City Hyatt seven years ago - have ended up the subject of court trials and have resulted in larger settlements.

Under the settlement, widows of the men who died will receive income from annuities, and children will receive small weekly payments and money for tuition if they decide to go to college. The total amounts, based on the ages and needs of the victims' survivors, ary from a few hundred thousand dollars to several million dollars. To Share in Profits

The plan also includes a provision for the complex - once considered the harbinger of downtown renewal in Bridgeport, now a pile of rubble - to be rebuilt under the trusteeship of the court. The victims' families and other men injured in the disaster would share in any profits. The plan does not indicate a timetable for the rebuilding but Judge Zampano said he hoped work on the apartment complex could be within a year or two years.

Final approval of the settlement is scheduled Dec. 1, but Judge Zampano said all parties involved had already given their consent in writing.

Judge Zampano said the panel's interviews with the families of the 28 victims ''was like going to 28 wakes and 28 funerals.'' ''They were some of the saddest days of my life,'' he said, adding that the interviews with some contractors were almost as difficult, because they employed some of the men who died or were injured, and were still distraught.

But he said that dimension of the tragedy helped contribute to the settlement because it meant many people on both sides wanted a fair and swift resolution. No One Was 'Greedy'

''There was not a greedy person among them,'' he said. ''These were honest, hardworking people who just got caught up in a horrible tragedy.''

The Hartford Courant, in reporting the settlement yesterday, described several families of the victims as relieved that the matter appeared to be over and quoted a widow of a victim as saying the settlement was ''more for my children than for me, so they can get on with their lives.''

Some relatives of the victims, reached by telephone yesterday, said that they were relieved at not having to relive the tragedy in months or years of court testimony.

''We're glad to have it behind us and get on with what's left of our lives,'' said Leroy S. Siewert of Carlos, Minn., whose 26-year-old son Reginald was killed in the collapse of the half-completed apartment building. Blame Is Not Addressed

The complex and garage were being constructed with a technique in which concrete floors were poured in layers on the ground and then lifted into place with hydraulic jacks. Federal investigators said last year that a failure of a main component in the lifting system caused the collapse.

The settlement covers both state and Federal claims that had been filed or announced.

The report describes the settlement but does not address blame for the disaster, although it says that the ''acts and omissions'' of ''numerous'' parties could be seen as contributing causes. While the settlement does not release any party from criminal liability, Judge Zampano said he did not believe that either state or Federal prosecutors were planning to pursue charges.

The judges are also scheduled to meet with officials from the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration to resolve $5.1 million in fines that the agency has issued to five companies that it has accused of violating safety rules in the project. Fund for Contractors' Claims

For the families of victims and for the injured, the panel will set up a fund that includes $30 million in lump-sum payments and annuities, as well as any money recovered under an insurance policy held by the general contractor at the site.

The panel will also establish separate, smaller funds to cover the costs of any unexpected lawsuits. And it will establish a $7.7 million fund that covers settlement of the various claims that contractors and insurers have made against one another.

The lead counsel for the workers' families, Richard A. Bieder, said that the process had served the defendants as well as the plaintiffs, because it had probably saved several contractors from the threat of bankruptcy that years of litigation and a huge jury settlement posed.

''I've been involved in a lot of mass disaster cases,'' Mr. Bieder said, ''and I think never before has one been brought to a close so quickly and in a way to that has satisfied all parties.''